Our French lesson this week is about World War II

In our French lesson this week we are reading a short but true story. The purpose is for us to learn French, but the story is about recounting in a child’s eyes the outbreak of World War II in France. How it started when they returned from a family vacation. How she noticed that her parents were worried for some unstated reason. How it was for the father when he learned the news. How is was for the child when she wondered about how the family would exist when her father was mobilized to go to the front. How her father reassured her that he would be back by Christmas. How confusing it was when the Germans and the French armies lined up at the border but no one fought. How the school teacher reassured her class that all was well because France had the Maginot Line (a fortress of guns along the border) and a network of underground tunnels. How important it was for her to have her best friend in the apartment downstairs. How the father did not return as promised at Christmas. How the Germans suddenly and unexpectedly attacked through the Ardennes forest, driving their tanks through the mountains and bypassing the Maginot Line. How the family was told to flee Paris. The mother didn’t even have a driver’s license, but she loaded the family into the car and fled anyway. How the roads were clogged with people doing the same thing. How horrifying it was when the bombers attacked and a person nearby them was killed. How they ran out of gas and had to abandon their car. How they were invited by a family to sleep in their nearby barn. How it was to wake up after a night sleeping in the hay. How the country turned to Marshall Pétain, 84 year old hero of World War I, to take charge and keep everything safe.

Hooked yet? This happened to people here, and the German attackers were perhaps our relatives, and only a few hundred miles away. The disturbing story described here still happens in many parts of our world today. More to follow.